THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Sept. 1, 1865. 
88 THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. 
Having estimated the aggregate value of the trade in these sub- 
stances, let us now examine more in detail a few of them, although it 
will be only possible to treat them superficially. And first as to 
flax : — 
Without going into the discussion why flax has not been more gene- 
rally cultivated in the United Kingdom, and leaving the mooted point 
of its exhausting properties on the soil, I may state, in the words of one 
of its panegyrists, " that to innumerable individuals of the great human 
family, flax supplies the various items of clothing, writing materials, 
bedding, fuel, medicine (external as well as internal), manure, material 
to aid the painters' art, and indirectly, animal food of the highest nutri- 
tive qualities, and, above all, when duly appreciated and properly 
managed, it affords that inestimable blessing to a population — a constant 
source of remunerative employment." (Delainer " On Flax and Hemp.") 
An equally long string of useful properties might, however, be made 
of many other fibrous substances, whether of cotton, the cocoa-nut, or 
the plantain. 
Flax culture occupies but a very small degree of attention in Scot- 
land, the acreage under culture with this crop not, I believe, exceeding 
3,000 acres. For England we have no details ; but in Ireland the breadth 
of land under flax culture last year was about 300,000 acres. 
The produce may be calculated at 75,000 tons, valued at 3,750,000?. 
for the fibre, exclusive of the seed. 
The land under flax has more than trebled in the last twelve yea rs, 
but it fluctuates considerably. The quantity of flax, hemp, jute, and 
tow consumed, can only be stated approximately, because we are defi- 
cient in any returns of the quantity of flax produced at home. 
There was imported in 1860: — 
Cwts. 
Flax 1,464,810 
Hemp, &c. . . ... 787,283 
Jute and Sunn . . . * . ' 821,891 
3,073,984. 
To this must be added the estimated quantity of flax grown in the 
United Kingdom, and of the old materials broken up to be re-manu- 
factured (in the same manner as woollen rags are torn and re-converted 
in the shoddy manufacture), probably 1,500,000 cwt., making a total of 
4.573,984 cwt. In 1864, the imports were, nearly doubled. 
Numerous inquiries are now r making by our manufacturers and mer- 
chants as to the possibility of obtaining new and suitable vegetable fibres, 
adapted to the manufacture of articles which are at present made from 
hemp. 
One of the most promising materials for certain purposes is the fibre 
of the plantain, which has often engaged the attention of the tropical 
